Scout on Dontari Poe: Watch him play, he didn’t do anything

Posted by Michael David Smith on April 1, 2012, 7:38 AM EDT

AP

The excitement from Dontari Poe’s phenomenal Scouting Combine performance is starting to fade in the eyes of many league observers, who are turning their attention back to Poe’s tape — and not liking what they’re seeing.

Poe, the Memphis defensive tackle who took the Combine by storm by running a 4.87-second 40-yard dash at 346 pounds and bench-pressing 225 pounds 44 times, does not impress many of those who have watched him play.

“He’ll be overdrafted,” one personnel man told the Times of Trenton. “He did all of that at the Combine, so some team will take him way higher than he should go. I mean watch him play, just watch. He didn’t do anything. And he wasn’t playing at a very high level, either. All I know is he had one sack last year and it came against Austin Peay. You probably didn’t even know Austin Peay had a football team.”

He must have did something on the field he was invited to the combine.

However, I didn’t like his interview he kept talking about how he could have been a dealer or gang banger as if he did something special by not going down that path. As Chris Rock said “You just did what you were suppose to do!” You don’t deserve an award or pat on the back for that. Newflash Dontari, most kids from the hood are not drug dealers and gang bangers.

The one sack stat amuses me… he is a DT. The way that teams rotate guys based on situations, he probably won’t be on the field much in passing situations. As strong as he is, he could be a great double-team magnet with the right coaching. I would take him as a 4-3 DT and let him eat up blocks, which would make the team’s MLB that much better.

I agree that teams need to be leery of a combine superstar and shouldn’t overdraft based on 3-4 drills in Indy. That being said Poe is a young, raw talent that could make an entire defense stronger up the middle; he should not be around by the end of the first round.

He played for a really poor team. I can say that because I live in Memphis. He may just not have found good coaching yet… In any case the NFL takes chances on gifted athletes all the time, so maybe he’ll work out for someone. I sure wouldn’t spend a top 5 pick on a guy who just had one sack last year though…

What I saw on his highlights after the combine was a guy getting double teamed consistently, a guy who eats up blockers, and a guy who doesn’t get pushed backward easily, he maintains a forward trajectory to the QB even when double teamed. Errrm that’s kinda what I am looking for in 3-4 NT.

Poe is a space eater who doesn’t get over-powered and maintains pressure on his gaps, if you want sacks in a 3-4 defense draft an OLB.

Watching Poe, I do agree that he doesn’t have the same explosiveness as Ngata off the line. Ngata is just a freak, he is so fast off the ball for his size it’s mind blowing. But even with that freakishness Ngata’s avg. is only 3.5 sacks per year for his career. Major sacks totals will never be expected from their positions.

You draft Poe if you need someone to draw double teams so that your LBs can get to the QB, you draft Poe if your interior D-line gets pushed off the line of scrimmage on run plays. If you want sacks, then you draft Whitney Mercilus, Nick Perry, Melvin Ingram etc, but if you don’t have people like Poe and Ngata on your team, doing the non-glamorous work, good luck with getting to the QB.

One of the more tedious aspects of the offseason is the “expert” opinion. The list of “can’t miss” prospects that failed is a mile long and guys like Ahmad Bradshaw (7th round pick) and Victor Cruz (undrafted) are stars. Let’s be honest and admit the “experts” are anything but. Every team has screwed up picks and “geniuses” such as Jerry Reese and Bill Belichick have fallen on their faces as often as they have hit gold. I’m willing to bet any of us could flip a coin and be about as accurate in our predictions as the “experts”. Bottom line, no one has figured out how to predict how a young man whose reasoning skills are not yet fully formed and, often, a grossly incomplete education will react once a huge paycheck is placed in his hands and the pressure to compete at the highest level week after week starts to take it toll.

The Jets just re-signed their NT to an extension so I wouldn’t expect them to draft Poe. But, this is the Jets we are talking about and they did overdraft Dwayne Robertson and Vernon Gholston, so anything is possible with them.

Sometimes, the combine marvels turn out to be top-notch football players. Jason Pierre-Paul is a recent example of someone who had an amazing combine, but was thought to be too raw as a football player, against weak competition. Anybody near the top of that draft regret passing on JPP?

The question for Poe will be whether he can undergo the necessary attitude adjustment. Will he turn out to be Albert Haynesworth pre-contract, or Albert Haynesworth post-contract? That’s highly speculative, which is why different scouts and different teams will grade him very differently.

ernie ernie says:
Apr 1, 2012 9:31 AM
Sounds like another Farley. What the heck did he do last year. Drafted way to high. With the supporting casts around him he should have been the same animal he was in college but was almost a no show

“one personnel man told the Times of Trenton. He did all of that at the Combine, so some team will take him way higher than he should go.”

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Man this guy makes it sound like Poe is trying to pull a fast one on everybody. What exactly did this guy do at the combine to deceive everybody?
Ran faster, jumped higher, benched more and gave it his all?
How dare he.

Congrats Dontari, sounds like you are the 2012 Mike Mamula Annual Combine Champion. Some dumb team will draft you. Hire a good financial planner, the bonuses have changed. “Weight -room-hero, with $$ in his eyes”…

What exactly did this guy do at the combine to deceive everybody?
Ran faster, jumped higher, benched more and gave it his all?
How dare he.
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Way to completely miss the point. No one says Poe is trying to “deceive” anyone. People are just saying that his combine numbers don’t match his on-field production and that teams will deceive THEMSELVES into believing he is better than he is.

I said it after the combine: When a guy puts up monster numbers in drills yet looks so mediocre on tape against very mediocre C-USA competition, it is a HUGE red flag.

Poe was unable to dominate offenses that were for the most completely comprised of players who will never even see the inside of an NFL locker room. Every single player he will go against next year will be better than the very best player he faced off against in college.

His production would have been questionable if he had played in the SEC or Big 12. In C-USA, it is inexcusable.

You can teach a big guy to be better at football, you can teach a good football player to be bigger. no doubt he will be drafted higher than he should but he might turn out to be a good player. with the right coaching.

Tape tells 95% of the story. The combine has turned into a publicity stunt. lesean mccoy couldnt get it under 4.5 at the combine and all it did was allow the eagles to grab him as a late 2nd rounder, although his tape was loaded with making guys miss.

satanphoenix says:Apr 1, 2012 8:11 AMThe personnel man is undoubtably jets or giants (look at the source) and would love to see Poe drop to 16 (jets) or 32 (giants)
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Hey Rand McNally, you do realize that Philly is closer to Trenton, right?

At any rate, where the writer is from has nothing to do with their allegiances.

Sounds like another Farley. What the heck did he do last year. Drafted way to high. With the supporting casts around him he should have been the same animal he was in college but was almost a no show.
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Sounds like pretty soon he’ll be LIVING IN A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER!!!

I watched some Youtube clips of this guy and with that athleticism and against the type of teams Memphis plays he should have been throwing blockers around like ragdolls. Yeh he was double teamed…..by a pair of 280 pound dudes on a weak defensive line.

Even if he had terrible coaches that just told him to go out there and “do his thing” Poe should’ve been way more dominant. He was going against blockers who didn’t really know what they were doing.

Not saying he can’t be coached into a great one because you never know what kind of system and coaching scenario he’ll fall into. All I’m saying is how is he supposed to get better against NFL guards and centers who are just as big, just as strong, just as fast and who have polished blocking techniques?

It always happens some bust has a good combine good 40 and teams get all wet and draft him 20 picks early , then he gets paid n shows his true self . Judge the player on his game not on how many reps he did that’s the stupidest thing to do 🙏thank you Tim tebow

Bashing this guy because he only had 1 sack last year? The guy is 346 lbs. He’s a nose tackle. Not a pass rusher. He will certainly fill the hole in a 3-4 system, and that is exactly what you want. That will allow the players around him to play better – especially the linebackers.

The Steelers Casey Hampton never does anything in a game, yet it was a a great pick, and he has been solid for over a decade.

And no he is not an Albert Haynesworth 2.0. This guy is a pure NT. Albert Haynesworth is nothing similar to that.

The Combine and Pro-Days are just a means of getting to know the players in a general sense. What a “good” stat day shows is that the player takes the NFL serious enough to work out on his own and that he is dedicated to getting better. Not a guarantee he will do good, but coming IN or OUT of shape tells everyone what kind of player he is striving to be in the off season.

Poe moved up because he demonstrated he has been training extremely hard. Other’s moved down for performing much less than expected. Most stay where they are on the boards.

You are tripping if you think that this guy is just a workout warrior, because he’s not. Yes, he did only have 1 sack this past season and it was against SMU not Austin Peay. Your personnel source is wrong because this guy was the the clog in the middle for the Tigers and was a double team machine. He makes the plays that don’t show up on the stat chart (i.e. Vince Wilfork). I don’t think he’s worth a top 5 pick, but BEFORE the combine I had him rated 11th overall. I would say he should go 9th to Carolina or 11th to Kansas City.

ernie ernie says:
Apr 1, 2012 9:31 AM
Sounds like another Farley. What the heck did he do last year. Drafted way to high. With the supporting casts around him he should have been the same animal he was in college but was almost a no show.